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Learn Regular -IR in the Spanish present tense

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Regular -IR

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Understand this topic.

Read the explanation and examples, then continue when the pattern is clear.

Beginner grammar lesson

Regular -IR verbs in the Spanish present tense

Regular -IR verbs are common in everyday Spanish. Use them to talk about where people live, what they write, share, receive, decide and do regularly.

The pattern is predictable: remove -ir, keep the stem and add the ending that agrees with the subject.

vivirto liveescribirto writeabrirto openrecibirto receivecompartirto shareasistirto attenddecidirto decidepermitirto allow
1. Forming regular -IR verbs

Remove -ir from the infinitive and add: -o, -es, -e, -imos, -ís or -en. The ending identifies the subject.

Subject or verbPatternExample
yo-ovivo
tú-esvives
él, ella, usted-evive
nosotros, nosotras-imosvivimos
vosotros, vosotras-ísvivís
ellos, ellas, ustedes-enviven
2. What is the present tense used for?

Use the present for habits and routines, current situations, general facts, actions happening now when the context is clear, and planned events with a future time expression.

Vivo cerca del trabajo.I live near work.
Compartimos la oficina.We share the office.
Mañana asistimos a una reunión.We are attending a meeting tomorrow.
3. Regular -ER and -IR verbs: what changes?

The singular and third-person plural endings are the same: -o, -es, -e and -en. The difference appears with nosotros and vosotros: -ER uses -emos and -éis, while -IR uses -imos and -ís.

comemos / vivimos-ER uses -emos; -IR uses -imos
coméis / vivís-ER uses -éis; -IR uses -ís
4. Useful everyday structures

Keep the required preposition or infinitive after the conjugated verb.

Vivo cerca del centro.vivir + en / cerca de + place
Asisto a una reunión los martes.asistir + a + activity
Comparto la oficina con Ana.compartir + object + con + person
Decidimos cocinar en casa.decidir + infinitive
Ana insiste en pagar.insistir + en + infinitive
5. Subjects, negatives and questions

Spanish often omits the subject pronoun because the ending identifies the person. Names and groups still determine the form: one person uses a singular form, two people use a plural form, and a group including the speaker uses nosotros or nosotras.

Put no directly before the conjugated verb. Questions use the conjugated verb directly, without an English-style do or does.

Escribo mensajes todos los días.I write messages every day.
Ellas no discuten en el trabajo.They do not argue at work.
¿Añades leche al café?Do you add milk to the coffee?
6. Regular -IR is not the verb ir

The label -IR describes an infinitive family. The verb ir means to go and is irregular: voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van. Do not form it as if it were regular.

Abrir, escribir and imprimir are regular in the present even though other forms of those verbs may have special patterns.

6. Common mistakes
Yo vivir aquí.Yo vivo aquí.

Conjugate the infinitive.

Nosotros vivemos aquí.Nosotros vivimos aquí.

Regular -IR verbs use -imos.

Vosotros permitis jugar.Vosotros permitís jugar.

The -ís ending needs an accent.

Ella asistir la clase.Ella asiste a la clase.

Conjugate asistir and keep the preposition a.

Nosotras decidimos cocinamos.Nosotras decidimos cocinar.

After decidir, the second verb remains an infinitive.

7. A reliable method
  1. Confirm that the target verb is a regular -IR verb.
  2. Identify the subject.
  3. Remove -ir.
  4. Add -o, -es, -e, -imos, -ís or -en.
  5. Read the complete sentence and check any required preposition.

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